David Hingtgen

I didn't download them, but the preview pics/descriptions of the YF-23 videos seemed to me to be nothing more than the "YF-23 revealed" DVD uploaded. Which I have a copy of. It's much better to watch the YF-23 on a big screen.

ARKARY made the point I was going to--the heatshield is black, the rest of the plane is lighter. Thus, the plane isn't black. Also, the black-grey mentioned in the Hasegawa instructions isn't a generic color, they specify RLM66, which is a Luftwaffe color that literally translates to "BlackGrey". The RLM wasn't very inventive with color names, as opposed to the US's FS595 system, which has a name for almost every shade. RLM66 is considered to match FS36081, "Euro 1 Grey". Though personally for painting Ivanov's I would go with the next darker shade, 36076 (which is the darkest grey in the FS system). 36081 IMHO is distinctly "dark grey" while 36076 is *very* close to black. Anyways--we always want bigger tailfins because Yamato keeps making them too small. Well, on the Sv-51 they're too big, so this time we want them smaller. All we want is to make it match the lineart/anime. PS---Nora's has a distinctly gold canopy. Check it out: (this is also a good angle for comparison, this is the CG model from Bandai's site) ::edit:: More pics---here's the CG model for the CF Sv-51---I still think it looks kinda golden. ALso, Nora's in gerwalk.

"Meteor-like" is the last I heard about the long-range AMRAAM too. Hadn't heard about the AIM-120D designation though, is that official/likely? I figured it might get a whole new number, or at least skip a few letters. AIM-154 would be nice and appropriate.

Weight and size is rarely an issue--a filled drop tank weighs more and is larger than any bomb or missile by far. Radar issues are the main thing---if it wasn't DESIGNED to guide the Phoenix missile, it's not going to be able to. Physically, the F-15 is using its own center pylon, and a very thin and small adapter, then an F-14 wing-mounted Phoenix pylon. I'm betting the Phoenix will be dumb-fired by the F-15 with no guidance/signal at all, and will just head on out until it falls into the ocean. They're using it as a readily-available high-speed rocket, nothing more. A giant, very fast bullet would serve just as well if there were any. As for the Super Hornet and Phoenix replacement---haven't heard anything for a while, I think they're still going for a "Super AMRAAM"---may simply be bigger for a larger motor, or may be a 2-stage boosted model.

Interesting, I thought they were ALL white, the same shade--because my Milia came with a "valk off-white" instead of a matching "Milia/Max pure white" piece. Kinda annoyed me, it doesn't quite match, even though every other white piece of the valk matches, and doesn't use any Roy or Hikaru off-white pieces.

That was the VF-11.

Phoenix on an F-15: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/researc...nixmissile.html Because it's the cheapest way to go Mach 5.

Do we know the Sv-51 is supposed to be BLACK? I've always thought Ivanov's was very dark grey. Very dark grey is a lot more common on planes that pure black.

I don't think that kit can transform, so it can have the wing slice right through the legs and head.

Flankers and Hornets have long noses, and are the inspiration. If you want a short-nose plane, get an F-8.

Generally, I'm pleasantly surprised by Yamato's work. It's better than I had hoped. Anyways--T.V. already covered AA-9 missiles, and about the canards--- Here at MW we had already discussed that basically there's no point to a forward-swept canard, and there's little to go by in real life for how they behave. If not mass balancers, then I vote for purely stylistic to make it "look Russian". Look at any older MiG or Sukhoi---they are just covered with mass balancers all over. Especially look at the MiG-21's h.stabs-----the SV-51's canards are clearly based on them IMHO. IMHO the Sv-51 is basically a "Soviet Hornet". I see little Flanker influence, but a lot of simply "Russian" details.

My current theory (and the only one I've really come up with--I tend to try NOT to analyze and predict everything about a show) is that Linderman is somehow "behind it all". Too many connections. Maybe he's Mr Bennet's boss, or is the guy who found Claire for Mr Bennet, and it's not sheer chance that of all the things he collects, he likes Isaac's paintings and the exact sword that Hiro needs.

Compression alone isn't the issue, it's the program. I use 3 main programs for Jpeg, and they all vary in quality/size for the same "compression". One of them often triples the size of the file when going DOWN to 90% quality! (but I use it just for viewing, as it loads SO fast). And ironically, the best compromise between file size and quality, is the freebie that came with my scanner. For the same pic, at say 85% quality---some programs will make that 30K, some 50K, and another 100K. And they will all look visibly different, and image quality and file size will NOT correlate. With a different program, I bet BBTS could have better pics that actually take less disk space.

The spikes on the tailfins I'd vote for being radar warning receivers (RWR) (especially considering their similarity to the VF-0's), but the ones on the canards I think are more likely mass-balancers. Same as you see on the top of an F-15's fins.

Graham---Oh, my YF-19 is quite easy to transform *now*--with the sanded down tabs it takes less time than a 1/60 or 1/48 VF-1. It's that FIRST time that was hell and it exploded into pieces. Why don't you send me one of yours instead? If I have problems, then obviously I'm doing something wrong and my valk was fine to start with. But if I can get the neck of yours tranformed in 2 secs, obviously it's my valk that was the problem (pre-tab-sanding), not my technique.

Summary of a thread I'm reading on another forum: The key to China is the ocean. The Himalayas both protect them from attack, and make it hard for them to attack anyone else on land. And there's little point/interest in going after Russia anyways. (that'd just help the US's position) China imports so much oil, and we buy so much stuff from them---their entire economy and life-line is the sea, and frankly the US controls those sea lanes. They couldn't even invade Taiwan without control of the Strait, and the US could fairly easily deny that. US subs are basically the great equalizer here. They don't rely on satellite communication, navigation, or anything. They are quite independent, since they were designed to operate cut-off from the rest of the world. And they could easily sink every ship heading to or from China if needed. China couldn't do much against a dedicated embargo etc enforced by US subs. Even our boomers could be sent to hunt tankers or even warships if needed. And there's plenty of "all-purpose" cruise missiles on the attack subs. And mines. And, there's plenty of choke-points etc where US ships could be stationed to enforce an embargo hundreds, if not thousands of miles from China, where they have little to no capability to strike back. In other words--the US Navy could pretty easily deal severe blows, even if it's only economic, without taking a scratch. All the money and building in the world won't allow you to just leap-frog past a few decades of naval development, and get the training and experience necessary to come even close to any large, modern navy.

Or how about just using more locks to keep things together, instead of one or two mega-tight locks? I mean, even with half the parts removed, and the other half sanded down to less than one-half size, the forward fuselage still stays locked together tighter than a 1/48. And yet, the upper half is a floppy mess in battroid mode. I think Yamato mis-interpreted our requests for "tighter fighter modes" by making the few locks there super-tight, instead of adding more locks.

I saw it, and was waiting for someone to comment! Best scene: "Flying man, WHOOOOOSH!" "Could you keep it down?" "wooooosh"

I just had my -19 apart doing the main gear mod (annoyingly, Yamato has the wheel offset from the strut so far, that when you angle the gear out correctly the wheel touches the gear door). The wheel can be removed from the axle, but even if you sanded down the metal strut itself, I don't know how you could stop the wheel from still going to the end of the axle. Maybe ultra-micro washers, but even my coupler height washers for model trains are too big. Anyways, I also thought the "insides of the calves" may be the problem, and was thinking about thinning them. Also, the shoulder seems almost impossible to get apart, and the risk of breaking it is high, so I was looking for an alternate mod to lower the shoulders. When I first got it I thought the calves were the problem, so now I plan to go back to them. I'm saving the gunpod for last I think, seems to be the most complex/3D problem, with probably a combination of issues causing the problem. Question to everyone: anyone found a fix for the rear tab on the right wing constantly popping out of the leg in fighter mode? I currently think it's actually caused by the wing's forward tab being under stress, so I'm gradually sanding it down, but I'm having trouble determining WHERE to sand. (Don't want to sand too much, or the front one will be loose, and then there'll be even more problems)

I'm not getting this "broken back" thing. Most fighters I can think of DO have the lowest spot right in the middle, with the nose and engines raised above. F-14, 15, 16, 22, 23, Flanker, and according to the art, Sv-51. It's called area-ruling, it's on purpose for lower drag at transonic speeds. I'm not seeing a "bent angle", I'm just seeing the nose and engines being higher than the middle of the plane due to their curvature and placement.

...but you'll have to pay for one anyways! As for the nosegear. Two things I can think of: 1. The canopy is opaque because there is no cockpit, and the gear folds up inside it. 2. The gear can fold BACKWARDS in battroid mode, so there's basically a double-length gear well. In fighter mode the gear folds foward like it should, but for battroid another door/panel opens up behind the gear so the gear can fold backwards into the fuselage, and the nose goes into the forward nosegear bay.

Yeesh, that's gotta be a record--we skipped CAD and resin, and went straight to painted! It could be OUT by March at this rate...

Graham--I have owned/transformed nearly every Transformer made from 1984-1988, entire collections of recent Transformers lines, and every Yamato except the VF-0. Plus various Bandai stuff. I consider myself pretty experienced with plastic transforming toys. And the YF-19's forward fuselage would NOT separate, even with half of the neck parts removed and sitting in my lap, with only one of the tabs even locked in at that point. I have read every thread, and watched your video many times. I tried EVERYTHING, and it wouldn't budge, even when prying with screwdrivers. Finally--- I've had it to battroid mode and back, I've had it apart (both on purpose and "exploding"), and know EXACTLY how the parts should and shouldn't move, and have held each piece of the neck in my hands and looked carefully (and sanded down) the locks and tabs that keep the neck together. And I'm transforming it now exactly how I did the very first time. If I was doing something wrong the first time, I think I would have realized what the problem was on subsequent transformations, or after I had it apart and was looking at all the hinges and tabs. I spent literally over an hour on the neck---re-reading threads, re-watching the video to try to figure out what was going on. I spent less time on my 1st-gen YF-19 years ago! (and use less effort) It just wouldn't budge. I didn't "try for 5 seconds then resort to brute force". I tried for an hour--every direction, twisting, pulling, compressing, applying as much force as I dared---I bent the plastic many times, I greatly feared cracking it in half with as hard as I pulled. With my fingers, with my hands, with screwdrivers wedged between the tabs. It was the final effort, after an hour of attempts (the "it'll let go now or it'll NEVER let go" effort) that succeeded in separating the neck---only because the last remaining grey part broke out of the neck, and there was then NOTHING that the tabs could even hold onto. One single tab, holding onto an un-glued and un-screwed grey block, could still resist that much. I wonder if I could have the opposite effect as Wicked Ace--give me a second one to open, and I bet it'll transform just fine...

Well, since weathering on real planes often is "paint peeling to reveal the metal beneath", a metallic effect is usually seen as good. Also, most of the darker streaks you see on a plane? It's dark because of all the graphite used for lubricating the hinges. Nothing makes a plane look like it's got graphite streaks than real graphite. Hydraulic fluid is red, but the streaking is dark because of the graphite.

More explanation please, I so want to do that. Getting the shoulders DOWN is the most important thing to me, the forward/aft gap isn't as important.